POLITICS

Baku is one of world's safest cities, says Fuad Alasgarov

02.05.2012 [20:13]

Baku, May 2 (AZERTAC). Azerbaijan is ready to host Eurovision song contest despite the political games around the country, Head of the Department on Work with Law-Enforcement Agencies of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Fuad Alasgarov said Wednesday.

"Azerbaijan is ready to host Eurovision song contest and show the world that despite the continued occupation of our lands by Armenia, a large number of refugees and internally displaced people, political games around the country, we go forward and join the number of leading countries in all areas of development in the foreseeable future," he told national media while commenting on the recent statements over the boycott of Eurovision song contest.

PACE member Christoph Strasser and German Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid Markus Loening have recently urged to boycott Eurovision song contest, to be held in Baku in late May.

"I think that it would be helpful for a politician, planning to prepare a report on the situation in any country, still refusing from visiting this country and having the biased attitude to the development of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan, to observe the situation in his country," he said.

"Regarding Markus Loening, who regularly criticizes the Azerbaijani authorities on several issues, the fact that the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) is included in the German Foreign Ministry, is unlikely to stipulate his position as completely independent and impartial," he said.

"Bundestag member and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Federal Republic of Germany, claiming to be the leader of the European Union, first of all, should deal with human rights protection in his country," he added. "There are many problems in this area."

"The German government has not fulfilled 97 decisions of the European Court of Human Rights relating to the violations of the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights so far," he stressed. "For example, the decision dated 2003 related to the violation of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights due to too long consideration of the case in the court is among them. The German government has not made general measures to fulfill this decision."

"Moreover, one of the most recent decisions of the European Court is the decision on Schwabe's case and others," he said.

"The applicants have been detained for five days before the protest action on the basis of unclear suspicions and due to the fact that the posters reflecting the demand to release political prisoners have been found in their cars," he added. "In this case, the Court admitted the violation of the applicants' rights as the freedom of assembly."

According to news agencies, the individuals were arrested and injured during May 1 actions of leftist youth movements in Berlin yesterday. But their exact number is unknown. The streets were cordoned off by police. There were many police cars, ambulances in the side streets. Helicopters patrolled the city. It is reported that the organizers began the march on the outskirts of Berlin and planned to complete it in the center of the city. But the police did not allow doing this.

"The international organizations and diplomats accredited in Baku criticized the authorities when representatives of the radical opposition tried to conduct the unauthorized rally in the center of Baku in 2011, which resulted in a breach of public order and damaging to citizens and organizations," he said. "I wonder if we hear the same criticism regarding the riots in Berlin?"

"The rise of nationalism and xenophobia is being observed in Germany today. Regional and federal bodies do not resist this process," he said. "Today, it is unsafe for a foreigner who does not look like European to walk along Berlin streets."

"At present, Baku is one of the safest cities in the world," he stressed. "Eurovision song contest head Jan Ola Sand has recently confirmed this and admitted that Baku is a safe city."

The 57th Eurovision Song Contest will be held in the Baku Crystal Hall near the State Flag Square. The semi-finals will be held in Baku on May 22 and May 24 and the final on May 26.

The logo for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest is 'Fire Flower', while the motto is Light your fire.

Azerbaijan won the right to host the prestigious European song contest after the victory of Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal (Ell / Nikki) at Eurovision 2011 in Dusseldorf, Germany last May.